Blue Autumn in the Bayou (Gumbo Love) (38 page)

Demarcus thought for sure that
he was meeting his maker because he already saw his angel ready to escort him to the pearly gates. The heavy dose of pain medications had finally set in and he was seeing things that weren’t really there.

“Whoa. Let me help you, sir.” Autumn set the teddy bear down on the chair next to the bed, pressed the nurse’s call button, and then reached for his arm. “Please lay back. I’ve called a nurse for you.”
She helped him back into his bed, but Autumn froze when the man said to her, “Drace,
joie de la vie
.” Drace, the joy of my life. She captured the man’s glassy glaze as he grinned up at her.

His glassy eyes made her believe that he was heavily drugged and perhaps delirious; he swayed when he stood and swung at air when he reached for her hand, but couldn’t quite reach her. He looked so lost. That moment forever changed her life, a moment she would at first rejoice about, but would later damn until the full truth revealed itself. “What did you just say to me?” Her voice shook.

“Drace you come to take me home?” He stood again.

Both confused and shaken, Autumn peeled her hand away from the man’s grasp. Travis walked through the door and saw an old man standing at his bed, but didn’t see Autumn’s wide
eyes as she backed away from him. “I’m sorry sir, but you’re going to have to find your own girl.” His smile faltered when Autumn turned and looked at him. “What’s wrong?” He immediately rushed to her.

“Who is this Drace?”

Travis and Autumn gazed at the man, and then at each other. “Who are you?” she asked, just as a nurse walked in.

“Mr. Grimillion, you’re going to have to stay in your bed.” She moved to where he now sat. “Are these your children?” She turned and said to them. “For a while we didn’t think he had relatives. He’s been here a week and nobody has been here to check on him.” She saw the confused looks on their faces and paused. “You are his family, right?”

* * * *

It took several days to sort things out, but in those few days, between her time spent helping Reggie with the new baby, Autumn learned that the patient she stumbled onto was her estranged maternal grandfather, Demarcus Grimillion. Apparently he’d been hospitalized, heavily drugged to treat an infection he’d contracted, and had been in and out of consciousness. When he was finally stable, he told her the story of how he thought Drace and their children had succumbed to the dreaded storm, Flossy.

“See in those days, storms didn’t have names or categorized by numbers. Not until Flossy. Her sixteen inches of rain and thirteen-feet-wide tides submerged Grand Isle in water. I’d left for New Orleans already, and was told that families, livestock, crops, and most homes were destroyed.” Demarcus hung his head. “I wanted to crawl in a hole and die. I tried to go back to verify what I was told, but ended up locked in a Jefferson Parish jail for something I didn’t do. It took ten months for me to get out of there. And when I did, I headed straight for Chicago.”

Demarcus told Autumn and Travis that he’d only returned to New Orleans a year ago, that a strong yearning had led him back. He confessed to them that he had no idea that Mer Drace and his children were still alive, and he didn’t think he
deserved a second chance, but he wanted one anyway. After hearing his tormented story of abandonment, she fell into a dangerous situation, having to tell the rest of her family that she’d found their estranged relative. The news would be devastating, especially to Mer Drace. Just before leaving for Grand Isle, she visited him.

“Are you headed to see Drace?”

“Yes, sir.”

He nodded without saying anything. He knew what Autumn was about to do was going to change all of their lives.

*
* * *

Autumn pulled up to her grandmother’s house around midmorning.
She’d traveled alone after convincing Travis it was something she had to do on her own. “I’ll only be gone for the day and will be back home before you’re home from work.” 

Now as she sat in Mer Drace’s driveway
, she wished he was there because she had no idea how her grandmother would take the news. All she knew was that she had to tell her soon or risk losing Mer Drace’s trust. She was a hard woman.

Mer Drace knew Autumn was there with bad news. She just couldn’t figure out what it was. And when she heard her sweet granddaughter say, “I found Demarcus, Mer Drace,” her heart broke in two. Not just for her sake, but the sake of her children and grandchildren. She’d chosen poorly, and they’d all paid the price for it
.

* * * *

Demarcus paced the hospital room and mumbled as he moved around the room. Since he encountered his beautiful granddaughter, and after she told him that his Mer Drace had not perished in the storm as believed, he couldn’t eat or sleep. He wanted to see her, to talk to her. He made his plans to head to Grand Isle as soon as he was released.

* * * *

Mer Drace hugged both Maree and Autumn snugly. Autumn had to call her mother to come over because she didn’t exactly respond to the news very well; but Mer Drace commended her granddaughter for trying to take on a responsibility that really wasn’t hers. She had to make sure Autumn understood that none of it was her fault.

“Somehow I knew he was still
alive,” Mer Drace told them. “Even though he never did come back for us, Lord knows why. Dear daughter, I am sorry I chose so poorly; that you had to live without a father.” Tears streamed down their faces.

“You were the best mother and father any girl could have.”

“Thank you, child.” Mer Drace patted Maree’s back. “I would do anything to protect you.”

“I know. I know you did your very best,
Momma.” It wasn’t often Maree addressed Mer Drace by her title. Mer Drace always insisted that her family and friends call her Drace. It was Maree who started calling her Mer Drace and the name stuck.

Maree then turned to Autumn.
“Go call your husband. He’s worried.” Autumn nodded.

CHAPTER 39

“Sorry, babe. I didn’t mean to worry you. Mer Drace didn’t take the news well. She didn’t give me a chance to prep her for what I had to tell her.” Autumn knew that Travis would get in his car and head to Grand Isle, driving like a bat of hell if she didn’t call him. The only reason he’d not done so already was because he’d talked to Maree who explained how they’d taken her report.

Travis sighed heavily upon hearing Autumn’s voice. “Do you need me to come down?”

“No. We’re okay. But I think I’ll stick around for a couple of days. Will you tell Reggie?”

“Yes. Take your time. I’ll help
her get someone to cover the studio while you’re gone. Is there anything you need, darling?”

Autumn wanted so badly to tell him that she needed him, needed his strong arms around her, but
she knew what would happen if she told him this. So, instead she said, “I’m okay. I’ll call you later.”

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

Travis fingered the envelope that
he’d placed in his office desk drawer since he received it from Clem’s lawyer, first in his business office, and now in his home office. The terms of Clem’s last request were already implemented. The shakeup in Autumn’s family made him rethink his decision about what Clem asked him to do. He opened the envelope to read the documents. His brothers had already responded. As he sat in his home office he contemplated what he would have to do to carry out Clem’s wishes.

As he shuffled through several of the
documents, one in particular caught his eye. It was a handwritten note in Clem’s handwriting. “Big man, you are like a son to me. For this I leave my most prized possession, and the majority of my estate, contingent on a couple of things, of course. I know you will do this for me because I trust you. Take half of what I’m leaving and give it back to young people in our community; to give them a chance to succeed like you, Michael, and Trae. The money I’m leaving will be far more than enough to do what you need to do.”

Travis went on to read through Clem’s grand plan, a proposal he’d started before he passed
. With plans pretty much in place, all Travis had to do was put them in motion. He was instructed to provide twenty-five scholarships each year to deserving young people interested in music, theater, and dance.

How could Clem know that he would meet Autumn, a perfect candidate to help him put this plan in motion
? He trusted her intimately, and knew that she had all the right connections to make it happen. The project was a perfect way to get Autumn to New Orleans without making her choose to stay in her profession. Nothing else mattered to him, not even the business, not inheritance, not any worldly possessions. He just wanted to spend his life with Autumn. He needed to figure out how to get her to help him with Clem’s plan

After he scanned all the papers, he
completed some of the forms; reading, signing, and initialing in all the spots required. He talked to Autumn earlier that morning and was expecting her home soon.

* * * *

The drive back to New Orleans gave Autumn time to digest all the tearful, heartbreaking conversations she shared with her family. Mer Drace told them how she went to New Orleans to look for Demarcus, having to live in the allies, almost being raped, and after more than a year when she hadn’t found him, had to believe in her heart that he was dead. Autumn’s spirit nearly shattered hearing this and couldn’t imagine a hurt so devastating. She wished she could go back to the hour before she found Demarcus. She would mind her business, bypassing his room. But the damage was done, and when she got to New Orleans, she planned to tell him that the family wanted nothing to do with him.

An
hour into her drive home, all sorts of crazy thoughts and doubts entered her head. She wondered if Travis could betray her this way. Would he? Would he risk his life to protect her? Would his promises stand?

In her heart
, she believed he would, but that nagging voice just poked her over and over again. By the time she made it home, she was a complete mess. She pulled into the garage and her heart nearly stopped when she saw Travis’s truck parked next to their sedan. She expected him to be at work. She thought she would at least have a couple of hours to pull herself together.

S
o she closed the garage door but didn’t get out right away. She closed her eyes to calm herself. She loved Travis and knew he loved her too. Autumn jumped when Travis pulled the driver-side door open. Her hand flew to her chest, and she glared at him though blurry eyes. Travis released the door, and reached in for Autumn. When she recoiled, he kept his voice and his gaze even. “Darling, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Autumn didn’t answer. She stared at him. He reached for her again and
again she moved. So Travis stepped back and waited. He’d heard the garage door open and then close. So, he knew she was home, however, when she didn’t come into the house, he went to find her. He hadn’t meant to startle her but instantly thought something was wrong. “Autumn.”

She turned toward
him, but still did not say anything. He noticed her red eyes and swollen lids. He reached in and pulled her from the SUV and dragged her into his embrace. “What’s wrong, darling? Tell me.”

Autumn didn’t fight him,
she just stood there in his embrace. She refused to break down, or cry another tear. She wanted to savor his embrace but couldn’t. And that angered her, especially when she thought about her grandmother’s hurt. She pushed her fist against Travis’s chest until he released her. “I’m tired. I need to take a shower before I head to the studio.”

She
tried to move around him, but Travis caught her by the arm, before she could get pass him. He frowned. “Autumn, what’s wrong? This is not like you. Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

“No. Not now. Please let me go.” She
pulled her arm in attempt to get away.

H
e released her arm and watched her enter the house. For a long while he just stood there without moving. And after the moment passed, he returned to his office to finish the paperwork from Clem’s lawyer. He decided to give Autumn some space and maybe afterward, she would be ready to hear his news.

Autumn resisted the urge to
hug her husband. Lord knew she needed his strength, but she didn’t trust her ailing heart to keep her wandering thoughts in check. She removed her clothes, stepped into the shower, but didn’t linger under the warm spray long. Later, she planned to go to the hospital to tell Demarcus that her family did not want to see him. For that reason alone she needed all the strength she could muster.